Mizuho Bank Ltd. Purchases New Holdings in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new position in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 440 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $105,000. Progressive accounts for approximately 0.0% of Mizuho Bank Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PGR. Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Progressive during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Progressive by 3,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in Progressive during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, CAO Mariann Wojtkun Marshall sold 585 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.29, for a total transaction of $142,324.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $969,024.07. This represents a 12.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 1,542 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total value of $435,861.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 268,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,759,663.84. The trade was a 0.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,317 shares of company stock valued at $14,844,282. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Progressive Trading Down 10.4 %

Shares of Progressive stock opened at $257.27 on Friday. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $150.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $269.14 and a 200 day moving average of $256.74.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The insurance provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.64. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PGR. StockNews.com cut Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $300.00 to $287.00 in a research note on Friday. Raymond James raised Progressive from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Progressive from $251.00 to $256.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Progressive from $273.00 to $267.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Progressive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.29.

Progressive Company Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.